| Title: |
A systematic and large-scale exploration of analytical variability in task-fMRI |
| Authors: |
Merel Jourdan, Youenn; Acher, Mathieu; Maumet, Camille |
| Contributors: |
Neuroimagerie: méthodes et applications (EMPENN); Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre Inria de l'Université de Rennes; Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-SIGNAL, IMAGE ET LANGAGE (IRISA-D6); Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systèmes Aléatoires (IRISA); Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - Rennes (INSA Rennes); Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-École normale supérieure - Rennes (ENS Rennes)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-CentraleSupélec-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique); Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - Rennes (INSA Rennes); Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systèmes Aléatoires (IRISA); Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-École normale supérieure - Rennes (ENS Rennes)-CentraleSupélec-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique); Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT); Diversity-centric Software Engineering (DiverSe); Centre Inria de l'Université de Rennes; Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-LANGAGE ET GÉNIE LOGICIEL (IRISA-D4); Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM); ANR-23-CE45-0022,VICUNA,Comprendre pourquoi differentes configurations donnent des resultats differents en neurosciences(2023) |
| Source: |
OHBM 2026 ; https://inria.hal.science/hal-05458481 ; OHBM 2026, Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), Jun 2026, Bordeaux, France ; https://humanbrainmapping.org |
| Publisher Information: |
CCSD |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Subject Terms: |
Pipelines; Software variability; Neuroimaging; Abstract; [SCCO.NEUR]Cognitive science/Neuroscience; [SCCO.COMP]Cognitive science/Computer science |
| Subject Geographic: |
Bordeaux; France |
| Description: |
International audience ; Configurability of neuroimaging pipelines is essential for tailoring the analyses to different experimental conditions but also gives rise to analytical variability : i.e. distinct pipelines, equally valid from a scientific point of view, may produce different findings. Previous works have explored the sources of this variability typically by studying the variability induced (in the results) by a small set of pre-defined pipeline variations – such as the choice of software, operating systems or preprocessing methods. In this work, we leverage methods from software engineering to systematically explore analytical variability from preprocessing up to group analysis in a multi-task fMRI dataset. We investigate 20 parameters – including interpolation algorithm, coregistration cost function, number of motion regressors – expressing a total of over 27,000 distinct pipelines. We propose a method to study variability in this large space without any assumptions made on the expected results or target downstream task. We separate variability of interest (differences observed across valid results) from unwanted variability (differences linked to pipelines producing unacceptable or low quality results) while minimizing the required amount of visual quality control. Finally, among the valid pipelines, we identify the parameters that have the strongest impact on the final results. |
| Document Type: |
conference object |
| Language: |
English |
| Availability: |
https://inria.hal.science/hal-05458481; https://inria.hal.science/hal-05458481v1/document; https://inria.hal.science/hal-05458481v1/file/Youenn____OHBM_2026-1.pdf |
| Rights: |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ; info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.71458C70 |
| Database: |
BASE |